St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-06-11
genial heat in the brazen vaults of


sufficient upon which to erect the post
office and United States courthouse. 1t
is, indeed, busy place, but why the
great city of New York should, for the
sake of few shekels or even for the
sake of consulting the convenience of
downtown merchants and traders, de-
iberately choke up one end of its then
central breathing spot, is most amazing
problem. There was time when the
City Hall Park was graced, beauti-
running fountains. There are two foun
tains in it now. In one the water is
never turned on. In the other the water
was never turned on. The latter cost
the city during the Tweed ring some
thing like $4,000, and is as dry and
barren to-day as it was when the stone
was first hauled here from the granite
quarry. There are some beautiful trees
in the park and a few insufficient benches,
but it is not place for popular resort
and hasn't a single convenience or COM
fort or aid to refreshment, save here and
there a halfway drinking fountain for
people who are willing to run the risk of
lip disease by drinking from cups which
are never clean and are generally nasty.
On we go uptown along the sun baked
pavements of this glazing city, looking in
vain for tree or shrub or a restful spot,
until we reach Union Square Sixty
years ago my maternal uncle lived away
out of town in the summer and had his
country residence at the head of the place
now known as Union Square. 1t is one
of the most enjoyable places in and
about this city. Thousands of people
use it every day, resting upon its shady
benches, availing themselves of its physi
cal conveniences of every sort and kind,
disturbed at night only by the every
corner-searching glare of the electric
light. Union Square has number of
very beautiful trees, and one or two beds
of Towering shrubs. There is some pre-
tense of care about it, and its fountain is
suggestive of GOODNESS and refreshment
to the poor tramps, the school children,
the flirting policeman and the coy cham
bermaids who make it their place of daily
resort There, too, we begin to find evil
dences of civilization in the guise of
statues.
There is nothing, you will remember, on
the Battery in the bronze, iron or stone
line except the stone barge-house and the
iron pillars of the elevated railroad.
Neither is there anything in the City
Hall Park graceful or suggestive of art
or science in any department. Some
years ago a foolhardy fellow set up
freestone statue of Washington in the
City Hall Park; but, when ornamented
by spit-balls in its eyes and the greater
portion of it's nose knocked off, it became
such an unmitigated guy that our city
fathers sagely concluded to relegate it to
a congenial stone yard. In and about
Union Square are the equestrian statue
of Washington, statue of Lafayette,
and the mammoth Disagreement statue
of Abraham Lincoln.
Come along. We have plenty of places
vet to visit. Never mind hoisting your
umbrella. 1t won't shield you from the
pitiless rays of the sun, for there is no
shade of any sort or kind. There is not
tree from Union Square all the way
up the broad sidewalks shining and
shimmering and glistening in the broad
sweltering of this boiling sun.
Here we are at Madison Square, by day
beautiful, at night scene of picturesqe-
ness unequaled in this city It's paths
are multitudinous, broad and charmingly
shaded by widespreading trees of sturdy
growth. There are many benches there.
Children play there by thousands; nurses
guard them by hundreds and, although
the unkempt tramp and the SHINY dis
guised loafer are now and then to be de-
tected here and there, the park police are
gallant enough to protect the servant
girls, and the little children know whom
to run to in time of alarm. At the lower
end is most ridiculous effigy of William
H. Seward sitting in modern garb in
most comfortable position. Admiral
Farragut is represented as preaching
from pulpit or directing the maneuvres
of fleet from the bow of vessel,
according to the imagination Or infor-
nation of the spectator.
Twenty or thirty years ago monu-
ment was erected to General Worth, of
Mexican war notoriety, and, under the
impression that it was put so far uptown
that nobody would ever see it, there was
but little opposition to its erection at the
upper end of Madison Square. Here,
too, for year or more, was placed the
hand of the extraordinary gift
from France to America, the statue of
Liberty, for which the pedestal was long
since provided.
Elegant drinking fountains have been
sent here, gifts of private benefcence, and,
in fact, Madison Square by reason of it's
inherent beauty, its superb rows of trees
and its surroundings, may be considered
one of our most delightful and enjoyable
breathing places. At night when the
electric light falls full upon the marble
fronts of the Fifth-avenue Hotel, the
Albemarle and the Hoffman House, and
upon the facades of elegant residences
on Twenty-third street and Madison
avenue and Twenty-sixth streets, the ro-
nance and weirdness of the picture are
suggestive and worthy the pen
or pencil of the choicest artist.
need not tell you about Central Park,
save to call attention to a development
made notable during the past few years,
viz, the erection of costly and magnifi-
cent fiat houses on every available lot of
ground within an eighth of a mile of the
park itself. The park is in its glory now,
and its beauties and comforts are en-
ioyed every day in all this season by
many scores of thousands of people.
Beyond the park is variety of de-
lightful resorts, chief of which is High
bridge, where every day in every week
90 from eight to ten thousand people,
while on Sundays the police report from
twenty to forty thousand men, women
and children as regularly as the sunshine
permits trip up the river or ride upon
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